How deep is Montenegro in digital world?

Every time you prepare a presentation on the impact that social media and technology have on a region and Montenegro is a part of these results there is a pile of old data. So, when you want someone to see the real extent in which new technologies are used and why we all have to be part of this trend, the data cannot confirm these claims.

The world known advertising agency in Singapore, We Are Social, recently published a report about the extent of use of digital technologies and the trends that follows them. The detailed analysis was about the 30 largest economies of the world and the use of Internet technologies in 232 countries around the world.

More specifically, was about how important is for everyone to understand the world of digital media and how important is their presence in our lives. So if you ever wondered why your company needs to have a strong online presence, this report can help you find the answer.

The published report was for the year 2016 and many interesting data follows.

First of all, almost 50% of the world's population, or 3.42 billion people use the Internet every day.
Mobile devices are used by 3.79 billion people, or 51% of the world population daily.
One-third of people, or more than 2.3 billion have a profile on social networks, and almost two billion social network users, access their profiles via mobile phone - 27% of the world population.

But what is more interesting is about the speed that these things change. If we take the number of internet users globally and compare the data from previous years, we will see an increase up to 10%, respectively, to 332 million in absolute terms. The number of social network users insreased by 219 million, while the number of mobile phone users increased by only 4% (141 million). Moreover, the number of social network users who access their profiles via mobile devices, has increased up to 17%, 283 million.

Yet what interests us the most is the data appearing about Montenegro and the region.

Specifically, Kosovo has the highest Internet penetration as a country in which 81% of the population is actively using the Internet, followed by Croatia (75%) and Slovenia (73%). Serbia has the minimum number of Internet users in relation to the number of inhabitants with 4.73 million, or 54% of the total population. Montenegro has an average value or so, in all other parameters. (!)

Furthermore, Montenegro has a 381.8 thousand active users of social networks, which, compared to its population amounts is up to 51 percent. The second and third place are Macedonia, with 48 percent and Bosnia and Herzegovina with 42 percent. At least, there are not so many fans of social networks in Kosovo!

What all these data mean for us?
It's simple, if you want to be relevant, if we want to be heard and to achieve an impact on your customers, business partners or the general population, we need to be on the Internet. We need to be on social networks. Too often the conversation in business circles of Montenegro reduced to review why the company should open a Facebook account, especially, if their customers want to follow Montenegrin companies the latter should think much further about that. The social networks are even just a small part of the company performances on the Internet, and they are not limited only to Facebook as each has its audience and its rules.